St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-12
It Occurred at Night in Indi-
ana on the Chicago
& Atlantic.
Between Twenty and Thirty
Persons Supposed to
Have Perished.
The Officials, as Usual, Trying
to Suppress All the I'M
portant Facts.
Special to the Globe.

street depot on the Chicago Il Atlantic
road at : 40 O'Clock last evening. Con-
ductor Parks was in charge and Engi-
neer ConnOr and Fireman WilletS were
in the locomotive The train was made
up of two Pullman SleeperS, a day
coach, fruit car and baggage car.
The night was dark and misty and the
rails We're slippery. The train had been
out of Chicago but few moments when
Engineer Connor discovered that his
engine had broken her eccentric strap.
AS this miShap is of frequent occur
renee Connor continued on his trip by
working one side of his locomotive. The
mishap
LESSENED THE SPEED
of the train to such an extent that when
itSwept by Boone Grove,a dismal prairie
station five miles west of this place, it
was two hours late. While the crippled
passenger train was running through
this bleak strip of country, heavy re-
frigerator train with tons of fresh meat
packed in its long line of ears, was
laundering along at a great rate Of
speed few miles behind. John Dorsey
was the engineer of the freight
engine, and it is said had orders
to look out for the passenger
train. After passing Boone Grove Eli
gineer COnnOr stopped his train 1T Il
water tank two and one-half miles west
of this village, or midway between here
and Boone Grove. As soon as he had
leaped from his engine he threw up the
distant SemaphOre lamp, nearly half
mile in his rear. This was to warn the
freight that the express train had
stopped for water. He had not been at
the tank more than two min
utes when he heard the
freight laundering behind. The grade
at this point is very steep, and with
slippery rails heavy train runs at flu
riouS rate. 1t was too late to warn the
train, which was speeding OH tremen-
douS speed. Engineer Dorsey had failed
to see the big red Semaphore light, and
his locomotive tore through the fog and
mist until it crashed into the rear Pull
man coach. Before the collision Oc-
Cured Dorsey and his fireman saw the
lamps burning on the doomed
express train, but it was too late to
from the cab and then the crash came.
The engine of the freight plunged so
far into the rear Pullman that its upper
works dropped off in the center of the
coach. The conclusion drove the heavy
sleeper into the day coach, which was
reduced to splinters. The platforms OF
every car were torn away and thus
wrecked. The ends of each coach We're
broken like egg shells. The cars of the
freight train were
HURLED IN EVERY DIRECTION.
The upper works of the engine were
torn away, the tender thrown across the
track. and, piled up for twenty rods
about the prairie. were hundreds of
pounds of meat. There were Baker inn
proved heaters on the express train, but
Notwithstanding this supposed improve
ment over the deadly stove, the Goals in
the heater quickly set fire to
the upholstery of the rear Pull
man and i'll five minutes flame
ribbon spread into brisk blaze and
soon enveloped the shattered coaches
and their screaming occupants. The
light from the fire illuminated the sky
for miles around and startled the FARM
ers, who had not yet gone to bed
Through the rain and mud the rescuerS
came. Meantime the crews of both
trains, who had escaped with but
slight injuries, were hard at
from their blazing prisons. Nearly all
were found to have been hurled to the
front end of the coaches, where they
pinned and crushed by the heavy tim
berS and irons of the platforms. One
man. the head of Bohemian family.
lay between the baggage car and the
day coach. A brake rod had been
driven through his neck, and thus I'M
paled he persisted while his family lay
writing in frightful agony beSine him.
The fire burned with the appalling
rapidity of all railroad fires. Rein
forced by the farmers and their sturdy
boys the trainmen set about their work
and with will. There was water close
at hand, and pailful after pailful was
dashed into the cracking mass. The
railroad officials claim there was but
twenty passengers on the train, but the
men who stood about declared that the
SCREAMS AND APPEALS
for aid came from double that number
of human beings. The "Pullmans," al
though the first to receive the shock, did
not leave the track, but burned where
they stood. SO far as known not a life
was lost in these coaches. There were
but few persons i'll the berths, and al
though all were hurled one upon the
other, all escaped through the
windows before the flames burst
the day coach that the slaughter oc-
Cured. This frail box was smashed to
atoms. The sides and roof shot into
the air and then came down upon the
score or more of human beings who Law
penned beneath the seats. There was a
Bohemian family named Weller in
this Inflated coach. They were
from Dundee, ILL.,, and all were
Ell route for Hungary. The father,
mother and two daughters sat vis-a-vis.
Behind the parents were their two sons.
When the heavy Pullmans drove the
day coach against the baggage car the
entire family were hurled over the seats
and driven between the ends of the two
cars. The flames move up from behind
with fearful rapidity, The father and
husband lay dead with an iron rod
through his throat, but the rest of the
unfortunate family were still alive when
the trainmen sought to rescue them.
Everything was done to drag the chill
dren from the pile, but without avail.
THE FIRE CREPT NEARER
and nearer until cushion of seat
blazed up just above the woman's head.
The poor creature tried TO speak but no
Ineligible sound escaped her lips.
Then she attempted to pass one of her
girls, a wee mite of a thing, whose
white apron was stained with blood, to
the rescuers who were crowded about
the terrible scene. When the woman
saw that death was inevitable, she
closed her eyes as if in prayer,
and wrapping her only free
arm around the waist of the children
lying nearest her awaited the coming of
the flames. From this unfortunate
family but one member escaped alive.
He was one of the SONS, Herman by
name, bright lad of fourteen, who
managed to break out of the furnace
just as his parents persisted. The boy
now lies at a hotel in this city. He is
crushed about the head, and it is
thought he cannot live till morning. A
middle-aged Irish lady who was
in the day coach was caught under
stove and thus imprisoned
o. ...ar l,,,1Iod to dnath lafora tho